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Sushi Wraps

Holy cow, moving takes a lot out of you! I have spent the last month settling into my new apartment, and am loving the cozy space Tom and I have created. I am currently working at a bakery as a bread baker and enjoying it; I also get to make croissants, which are my favourite pastry to make, I have decided. Despite the fact that I am baking some things that aren’t vegan, I get to bring home lots of fresh, delicious bread. Out of the five kinds I make, four are vegan.

For a while now I have thought about posting a sushi recipe on here. My reluctance was due to the fact that you can put pretty much any vegetable in sushi and you’re good to go. What could I possibly offer?

Now and then one of the vegans I follow on the internet posts a sushi-style wrap, and about a year ago I started making them for myself for lunch. It takes quite a bit of chopping and prep, but the good news is that you can make a bunch of the fillings and make sushi wraps at a moments notice for days! (I do recommend making them to order) Here is my recipe.

To make the dip, in a small bowl, I placed the wasabi powder and mixed it with a few drops of water and stirred until a paste formed. I added the soy sauce and the hummus, wanting an easy-to-spread consistency. When I ate the dip on its own, the wasabi gave it a kick, the soy sauce gave a saltiness, and the sesame seeds made it all come together (see note for what I did with the sesame seeds). If using veganaise or pre-made hummus, add toasted sesame seeds when assembling the wrap.

I cooked the rice, and mixed in the rice vinegar, salt, and soy sauce. Brown rice does not stick together as well as sticky rice, but still does the job.

To assemble a wrap, I placed a nori sheet on my cutting board, shiny side facing down, and lines facing horizontally. I spooned enough rice on the sheet so that it is one layer (leaving one inch free along the top side). In the centre of the rice, I placed my filling ingredients horizontally: a few pieces of carrot, sweet potato, sprouts, and edamame beans. I drizzled/spooned some wasabi-soy dip on top. I made sure the ingredients would be tasted in every bite!

I carefully rolled up the wrap, starting at the bottom and rolling over top the vegetables and tucking the start of the sheet under the vegetables. I wet the last little bit of nori with rice vinegar and tightly rolled the whole wrap together. I cut the wrap in half before eating it. I also found that two wraps like this made a good lunch***. Be prepared to use a fork after eating if you use brown rice 😉

*I made my own hummus, but instead of tahini, I added lots of toasted sesame seeds (about 1/2 a cup for the whole can of chickpeas), which gave the sauce an incredible taste. I suggest either adding pureed toasted sesame seeds to the dip, or sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the rice before rolling.

**Besides the nori, all the vegetables are optional. Feel free to play around with the ingredients; add whatever you want/have. Other suggestions: fried or baked tofu, broccoli stems, lettuce, mushrooms, red pepper, red cabbage

*** A fun variation is using rice paper instead of nori, which you can soak in water for about a minute before wrapping (make sure to put it on a piece of plastic wrap, as it can stick).

Note: In the picture there are pinto beans instead of edamame beans. They were a good substitute, since I didn’t have edamame beans, but are not my first choice when edamame beans are on hand!

And, a final note: if you don’t want to make a wrap, you can make it into a buddha bowl! Put the sushi rice in a bowl and cover it with the filling ingredients and top with crushed nori and sesame seeds.